For years, Mozilla’s Thunderbird application has been the most well-known cross-platform, open-source, and free email client with extended functionality built in. Not only does it have features that allow handling multiple accounts, exchanging, sorting, and labeling emails, filtering spam, and other email-related functionality – it can also be used as a news client, RSS feed manager, and a chat client.
The Current State Of Affairs With Thunderbird
Yet, despite such a glorious past, tens of millions of its users might be faced with the situation in which they are forced to move from Thunderbird mail to Outlook or possibly, to other email clients. This is because Mozilla is dropping its mainstream support for Thunderbird. Thus, in 2012, Mozilla made it clear that developing Thunderbird is no more a priority given the realities, while in 2015, it was announced that its development should be uncoupled from that of the more dynamic Firefox browser, the revenue from which had to be used to cover Thunderbird development expenses.
Given this situation, many users (both individuals and companies) had to opt for email clients that are supported and maintained by big and resourceful corporations. With about 400 million users, Microsoft’s Outlook is one of the top choices in this context, given that the Outlook family of products has a very long development history and MS Outlook has become one of the most famous products on the market, in part due to its integration with Windows OS.
How To Migrate To MS Outlook
The two applications store emails in a different format (Thunderbird’s MBOX vs Outlook’s PST) and do not have bulk export tools that would allow easy migration between the two. Obviously, exporting and importing emails one by one is an incredibly laborious task. Considering all of these, it makes sense to use specialized software. When exploring potential software solutions, pay attention to the following aspects, that would determine which type of license is most suitable for you:
- If you are an individual user who is abandoning Thunderbird for good and anticipates just one format conversion, you could buy a one-year license/registration key for the minimal version of the software (e.g. a home license with just the basic features and support). Choosing the minimal version will guarantee the best price while covering all or most of your needs.
- If you are a small or big business, obviously, more flexibility would be needed in order to be able to manage multiple computers and perform multiple conversions (in this case, it would be useful to be able to use network sources or to install and activate the software on a big number of computers, to be able to process an unlimited amount of data, to benefit from priority support, etc.). Obviously, more functionality and better support come at higher prices.
Thus, correctly evaluating your needs would ensure you get the best value for money.
